Halford & Brough in the Morning - Brandon Astle Talks Abby Canucks + What We Learned

Episode Date: June 4, 2025

In hour three, Mike & Jason chat with Abbotsford Canucks commentator Brandon Astle (1:44), as Abby looks to take a 3-1 series lead over the Texas Stars in the Western Conference Finals, plus the boys tell us what they learned (27:00). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

In 02 on a Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody. it. Wait for it. Here we go. I'm going to go with the It's coming. I know. Wait for it. Wait for it. Here we go. We are in hour three of the program. Hour three is brought to you by Campbell & Pound, real estate appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell & Pound. Visit them on the internet at Campbell-Pow.com today. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec footwear and art.

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For dancing. For dancing. They keep the lights strobing. I always wanted to be a dancer. To the phone lines we go. The Power West Industries hotline, the play by play voice of the Abbotsford Canucks, Brandon Astle, now on the Halford & Brough show

on Sportsnet 650. Good morning, Brandon. How are you? You're doing well, boys. How did I? Did I hear you? You guys had a Colorado Rockies reporter. We sure did, buddy. It's like covering the Colorado Rockies. Eleven wins, 50 losses on June 4th.

What's life like for that guy? Buddy, we gave the Colorado Rockies, the Halford and Bruff bump. Cause after we had their beat writer on the show from the Denver post, they went out and won a series against the Marlins. They're now in a two game heater. Not a big deal. You know what else we did? We gave Archer Seeloff the Halford and Bruff jinx because after a shutout,

we pretty much planned a whole show around the Canucks goal tending situation for next season. Have things changed with Arter's sea lobs? Brandon I'll leave it to you to describe what happened in game three. Was that on sea lobs or was that the team in front of them? You know what, Bruff, I got blood on my hands as well because an hour before that game I went on Canucks Central with Dan and Sat and there I was pumping up Shelovs, there I was pumping up the penalty kill which is 39 of 40. The Stars got two power play goals in the first period so I'm guilty just as you guys but no it was not Shelovs fault in fact he was

incredible especially early on when the Texas Stars had the first power play they could have scored three times before they finally Connected and you look at the goals that that beat Shilov's maybe on one or two like he's an elite goal tenor He probably will say he wanted to stop them all but I would not fault him at all This the Stars team is a high-powered offense and this is probably been brewing over over the last few games Game one could have been like a seven six score, but both Shelov and Poirier were incredible to hold the goal total to five combined. And then we have the game two, which finished one nothing.

Things tightened up a lot more there. And then the Stars come home down by two. It's a game they gotta have and give them credit. They got down early after giving up a power play goal and were able to get the next three. they got to have and give them credit. They got down early after giving up a power play goal and were able to get the next three. It was a pretty wild first period. Five goals were scored all on the special teams. So I think it's just one of those things that you look at is just one of those weird periods that you can't really explain. Like half of that first period was power plays. And then the final two periods was a lot more

team, there's just two goals combined in the second and third. So yeah, just one of those things that you kind of keep your cap to Texas. They got the job done and they had to. What are you seeing from Leckaromacky right now? So there were a couple of opportunities in game three where the puck was on a stick and it just

wouldn't settle, it was flinging off the end of his blade. If it's a confidence thing right now, I'm not sure because he played well in Colorado. He's one of the Canucks best fours. He had the second most points in that series. And I'm thinking now at Brock Lake, game three was game number 72 for him this season between Vancouver and Abbotsford. And I was looking at his history over the last two years in Sweden two years ago with his club team at Jurgardens he played 44

games combined regular season and playoffs last year with Oroboro 49 games combined between regular season and playoffs so he's playing a lot more hockey right now obviously things are a lot more magnified in the Western Conference finals there's not a lot of space in the playoffs. I'm not trying to make excuses for him because obviously he does want to play better. He's someone that in the regular season was a go-to forward. I mean he had the second best goals per game average in the AHL going back to the regular season. And yeah, right now the puck just doesn't seem to want to cooperate with him and it's something that he's got to try to get out of.

He's still playing top line minutes. He's on the power play. So Manny on Malhotra obviously knows what he brings to the table. And hopefully he can get it going here tonight because the team can definitely use his offense. Is it fair to say that even though we're happy that he's playing hockey right now, this is a big summer ahead for him where he needs to get a little bit bigger and

a little bit stronger. Yeah, absolutely. And I'm sure he'd be the first to see that. It's a young guy, still just 20 years old. Obviously a first round pick with Vancouver and he has high expectations for himself, just like the organization and the fan base does. And he got a little taste of the AHL last year, playing in six games in the regular

season before he went back to Sweden and kind of knew what he had to work on in the offseason. Obviously, he's getting bigger, stronger and working on other parts of his game on and off the ice. And that'll be the same deal going into this summer. I mean, he's played a lot of hockey like I've mentioned and obviously when this even comes to an end he'll sit down with the team and set up a plan and what they hope that he can work on in the off season and obviously the skill is undeniable, the goal scoring is always going to be there. I think his defensive play has been very underrated, it's been very good.

There's just obviously things that you want to keep brushing up on in the summer and hopefully comes in the training camp next year and, uh, really competes for a spot with the big club because there's been points this year, definitely an NHL where you're like, okay, this kid has it. Like he might be NHL ready, but it's a matter of getting that consistency on a day to day basis. And that's something he's learning here in his first year playing pro North America.

We're speaking to Brandon Astle play by play voice of the Abbotsford Canucks here in the Halford and Bruff show on Sportsnet 650. I need to fact checked with you here, Brandon. Is it indeed true that the Abbotsford Canucks gave up two shorthanded goals in game three against Texas after giving up zero shorthanded goals the entire regular season? That is a fact, Halford. Yeah. I mean, I didn't, it left me kind of speechless.

Just something that we, we don't see very often, but give credit to Texas. They were able to take advantage of some breakdowns on Abbots's power play. And yeah, we're able to get a couple short handed goals. One was by a defenseman, like a defensive defense hitting the third period for some reason, jumped up in the rush and turned out to be a pretty good move.

And yeah, the power play, it was good. It had two power play goals and the PK's been lights out good. Like I mentioned, I went on with Dan and sat before the game and propped up how their penalty kill was 39 out of 40. And then that just blew up in my face in the first period. So unfortunate, but that's the game of hockey. It's unpredictable. And then I noticed some people were saying

after the Dallas Stars were eliminated from the playoffs, if they'd get any reinforcements down, they did send, well, I didn't realize this, but Petrovic is playing in this series now and he made his debut in game three. How big a difference did he make having come from just like being out on the ice against Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers?

Yeah, you could just tell like he just has that in factor. He's a big guy that takes up a lot of space, six foot five and like 215 pounds. He's got such a long reach and you see him make these little plays in his own end that helps the team break out. He was plus three, played a ton of minutes and I'm sure he doesn't get power play time in Dallas, but he does get power play time here with the Texas Stars and just a veteran presence that has been in both AHL and NHL throughout his career in his mid thirties. And obviously a leader that's been here for the last several years. He's got his roots laid down here in Austin, Texas, has a house and all that type of stuff for this family. And so there wasn't really a question of he was going to come down and seem like that

was a given, especially since he played nearly 60 games in the regular season. Uh, the other guy that could still come down with Lee and Bischel who was bigger than Petrovic, he's a six foot seven, first round pick in 2022 by Dallas, um, didn't play as many games in, in Texas as Petrovic did, uh, played more in the NHL and played in every single playoff game. Um, and there is some, some scuttlebutt if you will, I don't ever say that Texas as Petrovic did, played more in the NHL and played in every single playoff game. And there is some, some scuttlebutt, if you will. I don't ever say that word.

I don't know why I just did, but the word is that he might be a little nicked up and the stars don't want to take any chances of getting him hurt going into next year because it seems like a shoe in to make the team at a training camp. But I did hear that anything's possible right now. It seems like you might be nursing something. And so right now they just got Petrovic back. Was Bischel the guy that Corey Perry mocked for turtling? Yeah.

It was him, right? Yeah, he's the guy. Yeah, OK. That's the guy. That old man is making fun of me. Who is that guy? OK, I did want to ask, is there any other player on the team that's maybe boosted his stock and profile as much as Lena's Carlson in these playoffs

It's now 15 points in 15 games eight goals seven assists It seems like even in a losing effort He still manages to find the back of it I've got to think that of all the guys that have had really good playoff runs Carlson's maybe jumped to the top of the power rankings and guy as guy in terms of guys That have still like an NHL future that have boosted their stock the most yeah Carlson definitely jumped off the page he has found another gear since game three of the last round against Colorado he can be a case he's been the best player in the playoffs

just in total out of every team since that point he's got three multi-point games over his last four and his third in playoff scoring right now and obviously seeing what he did with the big club late in the regular season he gained some confidence there and came back down and was the team's MVP in the regular season and has looked awesome. He's back to a point per game pace so but aside from him I just I know he's come to these airways a lot and talked about Ty Mueller. He's not a guy that puts up a lot of points historically, but he's been doing that. I know the last game he didn't get anything, but especially in late in the Colorado series

in game one against Texas, he was one of the best players on the ice in game number one. So any kind of offense he provided is just gravy because he does so many little things well and gets the most ice time out of any forward, which is pretty remarkable for a young guy still developing. Victor Mancini, I mean, what more can be said about him? Yeah, him too for sure. Yeah, he's been awesome.

I just love how he can take over a game with his size, strength and speed. So I've talked about him enough. One guy that is just flying under the radar, another rookie defenseman, Kareel Kudrata, man, like he's just so impressive and like he's kind of been in and out of line up. He's played 12 or 15 games, just kind of comes down to a numbers thing. I know they definitely want to play him and now like man he has no choice. He's been that good. He just moves the puck well out of the zone

and like I know plus minus isn't the greatest stat, but like, he led the team in plus minus in the regular season, and he's got the third best plus minus in the playoffs right now. The last time he finished a game as a minus player was 28 games ago. So I know you can say what you want about plus minus, but that says something right there about the job he is doing defensively. And he's playing his offside. He's left handed shot playing the right side. So he brings that versatility and it was so great to see him get a couple NHL games late in the year just from the job he's done at Abbotsford. And the one thing that stands about him that Connock sounds like is like his motor is unreal. He did not start off to stop working. He's got great skating ability and it's just a pit bull out there. So those

are just some of the guys that I've been really noticing lately. It is Abbotsford, it is Texas. Game four of the Calder Cup Wester Conference Final tonight from the HEB Center in Texas. Canucks still lead the series 2-1. They'll look to take a 3-1 lead tonight. A reminder that you can hear our current guest, Brandon Astle, on the call of that game tonight

right here on Sportsnet 650, beginning at 5 p.m. after Canucks Central. Brandon, thank you very much for doing this today. We appreciate it. Enjoy the game tonight. It should be a good one and have a good call. Yeah, how are you guys are carrying the Marlins Rockies game in an hour, right?

I can't wait for that one. Oh, it's I'm on the edge of my seat to see if the Rockies can get their 12th win of the season. Let's go. Love it. Have a good one, boys. Thanks for having me on. Yeah, thanks for having me.

Have a good call. Brandon Astle, play by play voice of the Vancouver Canucks here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Okay, having me on. Yeah, thanks, Brandon. Have a good call. Brandon Astle, play-by-play voice of the Vancouver Canucks here on the Halford and Brough show on Sportsnet 650. Okay, I've got a couple what we learns. Two what we learns. Yeah. Amazing.

I've got two. Do you want to do them back to back? Yeah, I'll go back to back. Back to back, Jax, let's go. Okay, I've got, don't say let's go. Let's go. That's three times now. Let's go.

There's a new name to add to the trade speculation mix. I don't know if it makes sense for the Vancouver Canucks, but Drake Batherson. Batherson. Out of Ottawa is getting some attention. It's being reported by Bruce Garriott out of Ottawa that Batherson is available and being shopped around. And he's got two years left.

So it's a bit of a tricky situation. He's got two years left on his deal. Very manageable cap hit just under 5 million, but then he's an unrestricted free agent. And Batherson had a tough playoff series against Toronto. He was not very good. And, um, I think that might've prompted some of this trade speculation just 27 years old, the guy can score goals.

So there will be interest in Batherson. Um, but I don't know what the appropriate return would be. And I don't know if his contract situation would be considered tricky because any team that acquires him would be like, well, we don't really know if we can extend you. So we might only have you for two years and then you

can go to unrestricted free agents. It's almost like with two years left, it's trickier than just one because you can have extension talks this summer if you want it with a player. So just going to throw it out there, Drake Batherson, that's another name that could be traded out of Ottawa this off season.

Give us a moocow on that. Fatherton. Batherson. That's how you have to say his surname. Batherson. Fatherton. Okay, you got another one. You're going back to back.

Or do you want me to jump in? No, no, no. Okay. This is a fun one. Okay. Batherson was fun. It wasn't that fun. According to the BBC, two Belgian men hid in a toilet at the stadium in Munich

that hosted the Champions League final for 27 hours so that they could be there to watch the game. They evaded security using fake out of order signs, and then they emerged on match day, eventually watching PSG's 5-0 win over Inter Milan. Huh, what kind of team loses 5-0 in a big game? Ha! Um, the quote from one of the guys was, we had a backpack with some snacks

and we played around on our phones to kill time. The lights were on the whole time and the sitting position was uncomfortable. So sleeping was almost impossible. That made it physically and mentally difficult. Would you do that for a big game? Would you hang out in the bathroom of a stadium for 27 hours? That's interesting.

If it was a new build and it was still relatively clean, I might consider it. Allianz Arena opened in 2002, so it's coming out. It's 20 plus years old. You'd be considering the age of this, how much wear and tear toilet is. See, yeah, right. Like how many bots? How many I have been? When we went to New York the last

thing, this was a while ago now. We went right as the new Yankee Stadium opened and I had been to the old Yankee Stadium. Yeah, Yankee Stadium was great. It was like there's like a layer of soot. It was like hanging around a bunch of miners. There was just, there was like a layer of grime every day.

Yeah, I went to the old Yankee Stadium. I went to the new one, like months after it had opened. And I remember walking around being like, I could live in the toilet. It's so nice and clean, which was, and it was in, you know, it's in New York, it's grimey, it's the Bronx. This is not the way the conversation I thought you'd be like, oh, I'd have to decide on, it's like,

it's just the idea of being there for 27 hours in a bathroom stall, essentially. I'm fine with the idea of being there. The question would be the cleanliness factor. I would do it to go see a game, for sure. It sounds like it was a fun time. I mean, we would do it by myself. I don't know if I necessarily needed a mate with me.

Do you think they each got a stall? I bet they were in the same stall. It probably. No, it's two cubicles. Really? We should probably preface this by saying, do not do this. Right.

We're probably breaking many, many local laws. Don't do it. The fact that they're going public with it, are they doing this anonymously? Or they're like, this is who we are, here's our ID. No, they're proud of it. I think they're PSG supporters So maybe if they were inter Milan supporters, they'd be like, but we didn't do that I would ever do such a thing who do that by the way that that got me thinking about

You know how the Canucks had that auction and I know this is for charity. So it's all well-meaning They're gonna auction off the seats, right? Yep. Yep. Okay. They're cushioned seats though. Yep. I know where you're going with this. So I've seen people that have seats from the Montreal Form or Maple Leaf Gardens and they

display them in their man cave or whatever and they're like, they're the wood seats. Sure. Think of what those cushions seats have, let's just say absorbed. I know. It's crazy. Throughout the years, do you want that in your house? Like for charity, sure. That's great.

Hard plastic chair, fine. Nothing's permeating that. It is impermeable. Is that the word? I don't know. I get exactly what you're saying. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like how much freshening up?

I mean, I had a family of mice living in one of my seats there, I think. You know those couches? I call the big one bitey. You know if you go by any like area with a lot of college students at the end of the month when it's moving time and there's like a couch sitting in the, that's the kind of the equivalent.

Yeah, you don't know where that couch is. What's going on there, man? I had that couch. How many people have owned that couch? How many people have I had that couch. How many people owned that couch? Yeah. How many people slept on that couch? How many people have sat in that chair and just having a big boozy night?

Yep, yep. That chair has seen some things. And just cooked some things into those seats. You've seen that. You know? Seat has seen a lot. There is a smell that will never leave that chair. Yeah.

Just air it out for a little while. It'll be fine. I mean. It doesn't work. Can you imagine, like, this, the stories that you would tell, you'd be like, this seat was at Roger's Arena for the whole thing. The things that this seat has seen and experienced.

That's right. Man, like, the excitement. You know, sometimes when you get a little excited too, you get a little nervous, your tummy gets a little nervous, you're bringing that seat home with you man. Yeah. Yeah. You know?

Again, it's for charity so please, if they're still doing this, bid on it but- Spend lots of money. Maybe have an outdoor man cave where you can put the seat. Okay, moocow that. I'm going to, yeah, you know, can we go along here? where you can put the seed. Okay, moocow that. Ahhhhhhh. I'm gonna, yeah, you know, can we go long here? Because this is audio. Are you guys gonna yell at me to go to break?

Well, we'll yell at you anyway. Well yeah, go for it. But go for it. You know what, I'll play the audio and then we can maybe discuss it on the other side. So, you mentioned this earlier in the show. The New York Knicks, despite having their longest playoff run in over two decades, losing in the Eastern, the New York Knicks, despite having their longest playoff run in over two decades,

losing in the Eastern Conference final, decided, eh, we're good on our coach. And they fired Tom Thibodeau yesterday. Yeah. Kind of a crazy development, given the heights that he took this very sad sack franchise for a long stretch over the last two decades. And yet no one was really shocked because it's James Dolan and the way

The first two games against the Pacers went especially game one Okay here, but okay. That's fair. I could see James Dolan being like this is so embarrassing So you're bringing up a good you bring up a great segue by the way with Dolan, but Tivito surpassed Pat Riley this season fourth all-time in wins in with Dolan, but Thibodeau surpassed Pat Riley this season, fourth all time in wins in New York Knicks history. Back to back 50 win seasons, first time it happened since 95. By far the most, the club's most successful head coach in the last two decades, by far.

Any metric you can imagine, and they still fired him. Now you mentioned James Dolan. So who better to throw to about the state of a frenzied, passionate New York sports fan base and team than Mike and the Mad Dog. Now Mike and the Mad Dog have worked together forever and they've kind of made it their industry of arguing with one another.

Not even, they don't have to be together. Just like one guy takes the argument A, one guy takes argument B. Good and evil, black and white, they don't have to be together. Yeah. Just like one guy takes the argument A, one guy takes argument B. You know, good and evil, black and white, they perfect at it, they're perfect sports radio. American sports talk radio. Classic. So, one thinks that this dismissal

is all about the want of the owner, James Dolan. The other thinks that it's all about the want of the general manager. And they're both 100% sure about it. And they are both 100% certain they're right. Here's what it sounded like yesterday on Sports Talk Radio in the US. I don't care what you think. Of Jim Dolan, I don't care what you think you've heard or what, you know, this was Leon Rose's decision.

This was not Jim Dolan's decision. I feel like I have that on very good authority. I feel very comfortable with that. And like I said, I tell you with complete, complete faith in this information that this is Leon Rose's decision and nobody else's. I feel a hundred percent confident about that. But this is about Dolan Don't let anybody hear you, don't let anybody in America hear you say this is Leon Rose. Nonsense! Nonsense!

I don't want to hear from Rose. Everybody knows that Rose had nothing to do with this. This is Dolan. And this is is stolen. This is not Leon Rose. Please don't go to Leon Rose. It's not him This is nothing to do with Leon Rose Leon Rose was his agent for crying out loud You think he's gonna give him a three-year extension last year at the end of the season and then the agent then fire him after he Gets to the conference final the next year. I mean come on Leon's too smart for that nonsense There's no way he would have done that after he gets to the conference final the next year? I mean, come on, Leon's too smart for that nonsense. There's no way he would have done that. He hired him, then he gave him a contract extension,

and then they go to an Eastern Conference final for the first time in a quarter of a century, and he decides to dump him? Ah, come on. Hey, if you believe that, you believe in a tooth fairy. You're really convinced Dolan made this call? I wanna say that Dolan has not. Absolutely, I made a few calls before the show.

They all told me the same thing. Dolan made the call. Okay I made a few calls before the show. They all told me the same thing. Dolan made the call. I'll take your word for it. And you know Dolan. And these people have unbelievable influence within the Nick organization for the last 50 years. Dolan made the call. Did that inspire me to try to start the same thing

between Jim Rutherford and Patrick Albean? Who's to say? I don't know. You're listening to the Halford and Breff show on Sportsnet. He was a Judd Brackett pick. You're listening to the Halford and Bref show on Sportsnet. He was a Judd Brackett pick! You're listening to the Halford and Bref show on Sportsnet 650. Hey, it's Vic Nazar. Have your say and join me on the People's Show

with big takes and even bigger bets weekdays 3 to 4 on Sportsnet 650 or wherever you get your podcasts. Now for my favorite part of the show! What'd I say? Talk to the audience! Oh, God, this is always dead. It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time. It's what we learn time.

On the show. Sands and Associates. Learn how a consumer proposal reduces your debt by up to 80% with no more interest. Visit them online at sands-trustee.com. We are in hour three of the program. It is what we learn time. Hour three is brought to you by Campbell and Pound real estate appraisers. Trust the expertise of Campbell and Pound. Visit them on the internet at Campbell-pound.com today. I was remiss in my host duties today I did not remind everybody that we are giving away a $50 gift card to white spot and as a result Nobody called in at 8 15 this morning. It was sad a dog was staring at the phone

You know I cried a watched phone never rings Adog. Remember that. This is like prom all over again. Yep. No one's calling the Adog. We're gonna remedy that now though. Call right now. 604-280-0650. That number again, 604-280-0650.

Caller number five is gonna win a $50 gift card to White Spot. No strings attached, you don't have to answer a skill testing question, you just need a pulse and a phone everybody. It just has these riddles three. No, don't do that. Oh, it is number.

Is the phone board lighting up right now? It is. That's awesome. I love having that kind of power and authority. Should make you simps do my bidding. Anyway, caller number five six oh four two eight oh zero six fifty that number again all you do is tell them to do it for a fifty dollar gift card to white spot I want this guy

to disappear this was too easy it was way too easy six oh four two eight oh zero six fifty call number five it's gonna win a fifty dollar gift card we're giving away one every day this week so So we've got Thursday and Friday as well. Okay. Um, I want to do a couple more of what we learned before we turned it over to the humanoids. This will also give you a chance to send yours in Dunbar. Lumber text line is six 50, six 50. Tell us what you learned over the last 24 hours in sports. Hashtag it WWL. We got some, we don't have a ton,

but that's okay because I've got a couple more We'll do a couple NHL ones. This is a two-parter regarding the NHL Awards, so If you're wondering when the annual NHL Awards show is gonna be you know, but he's wondering they circle it on the calendar They're like when Shaka Khan showing up they want to know it's gonna be a more muted affair this year It's actually gonna be a one-hour special.. It's actually going to be a one hour special. I don't think it's going to be an actual live award show. I think it's going to be.

Thank God. They've never the NHL has never been good at award shows. They've tried a lot of different formats. They've gone live. They've done like the skits and they've tried to be like typical award shows. It never works. There's a lot of injuries on the flop sweat.

It just wasn't good. Guys were tearing ACLs. You know, performers, actors, musicians, everyone else, they're built for those moments. They're built to go up and accept the words and be clever and witty and perform. Hockey players aren't. It's not their fault.

They're just not. And a lot of the jokes that they try and land at these things don't. It's not. Well, a lot of the performers, I think, land at these things don't it's not a lot of the performers I think have been Less than on equally poor. So yeah, is there even a good what is a good award ceremony? I got one that is fast the Oscars like that's a huge budget Like any shows not gonna have a budget the nice thing about the Oscars is the nice thing about the Oscars

It's not self-indulgent John Mulaney is hosting the NHL Awards. Right? Yeah. He's very good. Well, you also need someone to be able to poke fun at everything. And the NHL tends to be a little sensitive about like, if you want to make the good jokes, like the ones we make, you can't make those. Like Norm MacDonald's The Esps. Oh, my God.

I was just thinking of that. That was the only time it was ever funny. Every once in a while, I go back and watch Norm MacDonald at the ESPYs. And it is great, by the way. Go watch it if you haven't yet. Rest in peace, Norm. Yeah, 95 ESPY awards, the first and only time he hosted the ESPYs.

So much cringe, but in the best way possible. The 2025 NHL awards are gonna air prior to game four of the Stanley Cup final. They're only gonna give out a handful of awards, the Hart, the Vezna, and a handful of other ones, because they're already giving out awards right now. I'm sure they'll go. They'll reiterate. Right. But the word reiterate the Selke winner.

The Selke winner was announced yesterday. Congrats to Alexander Barkoff of the Florida Panthers, who won his third and the second in a row this morning. The NHL and NHLPA announced the, the Lindsay award, which is the most outstanding player as voted on by the players, the members of the NHLPA. Goes to Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning. So kudos to Nikita Kucherov.

Who were the finalists for the heart trophy? It was Kuch, Hellebuck, and was it Dricidal? Must have been Dricidal. I think it was Dricidal. I think it was for the three, yeah. Okay. So they won't spoil that one. I believe that will actually be announced.

Yes, Dricidal is the thing. That'll actually be announced ahead of game four during the broadcast? But some of the other awards are gonna be announced now So you've got the selkie and I guess the Clancy everyone was waiting for the Clancy and then of course the Lindsey award that went today I often think that the Lindsey award I know this is a really bold take but it's actually more prestigious than the heart trophy because it's voted on by the players Yeah, they got stupid media. Yeah the idiot media, but If you want to dig deep on this

the professional hockey writers Association, I guess they've kind of Up the criteria for who gets to vote like we got drum drummed out. Halford and Braff. We don't write anymore, that's why. We used to vote. Yeah, yeah. And we wrote. Yeah, but I don't think writing should be the criteria. If you follow the- What is the professional hockey writers association?

If you know right good, I should still get votes. It should be the professional hockey peoples, that's it. Regardless of what industry you're in. Okay, so it's the writers. I know, but put it this way, leaving it to the writers. I know, but it put it this way. Leaving it to the writers has not put them in an upper echelon because every year without fail, there's a handful of writers that just forget to do it.

Every year. I used to dread the assignment. It's it's not hard. All you have to do is follow instructions, but those instructions are hard to follow for a lot of people. So if you go to the P.W.H.A. website, they've taken the, which I find enjoyable, the enjoyable step of publicly shaming those that screw up their ballots. And then lose their vote because of it.

If you don't submit a ballot, you, you're out, you're ostracized, you're excommunicated, you can't vote anymore. They strip you of your voting privileges. And that happened to a handful of people this year. Then there's a certain subsection of idiot voters who scrub the ballot. So they don't get excommunicated. Their ballot is just null and void across the board.

Under the box where it says, do not write here, you wrote okay. Like it is, you got to, it is very formatted. So you have to follow it closely, but it's, you should not be messing it up. I don't know what to say. Remember trying to put together the all-star teams and it'd be like, is this guy a center or a winger? And there'd have to be a decision made and then you'd screw it up anyway. Right. So if you want to go, I don't want to publicly shame anyone more

than the Writers Association has, but you can go check all of it out. It's available for public consumption. You know what you need in response to that? What's that? You need the Radio Guy awards. So the radio hosts need to vote on their own. You get to totally, you know, throw it at the window.

I think it should be like radio, broadcasters, writers, all of us together. No, radio should have its own award. That would not be good. The hockey yappers vote on an award. Radio and podcast. There you go. Bring the podcast in.

That's tricky. Yeah. Or riff raff. That's when we start to gatekeep a little bit. All right. That's when we start to strip media credentials. Okay, Mooka. Give us Mooka.

I want to go into the Dunbar member text line. Some signing news very quickly. Okay, the Colorado Avalanche have signed 86 year old forward Brock Nelson Three-year contract. Seriously. Yeah contract extension through 2728. Wow That is that is surprising you get his early 90s. He was not great in Colorado, especially in the playoffs Sorry, what was the AV? What was it? What was the AV? Oh, it doesn't say in their tweet. Okay. Well try and find out because pew suitor wants to know So there's what do you think suitors gonna get you think let's talk total money

Do you think anyone will give suitor 20 million dollars four by five for how many years? Four four by five or five by four. How about five by four? I just need a three by seven point five Wow by seven point five Nelson's making seven point five million sooner. You're getting six five Defined center. I'm I willis. I am loving life right now if I am pew suitor. Mm-hmm That is great Okay, suitors like I can also play the wing if you want me.

I can do anything you want. I'm a great penalty killer. So I'm not the fastest guy out there, but, you know, I played defense for eight million. Brock Nelson between the two teams last year scored 26 goals and had 56 points. Those are suitor numbers from last year. Kinda, right?

Slightly elevated. Not by much. And Brock Nelson turns 34 in October. Wow. Okay. Maybe I shouldn't be shocked by this. I guess I have kind of predicated most of the conversations today with, wow, it sure seems like teams are keeping their

pending unrestricted free agents rather than letting them go to market. Just a quick thought. There have been some guys that have come to the Canucks and turned their stints in Vancouver into a pretty nice payday. It's payday land out here. Because you can sell that.

You can sell that to players that are coming off a down year or maybe underappreciated around the league. Look at what Kevin Lankton did. Yep. He got paid. He was in a situation where, no seriously, Kevin Lankton was probably in a situation where he was like, I could be out of this league in a year. Yeah. Came to Vancouver, no one had picked him up in free agency because he wanted like $2 million or something like that. He ended up taking essentially a legal minimum

from the Canucks and he parlayed that into what do you get, 20 million over or whatever. Yep. You got a lot. Okay. Pew sewer, the same sort of thing. They weren't clamoring. So they weren't clamoring to sign Pew sewer,

he comes to Vancouver, he was a late signing, right? Yep. And now he's turned that into a payday. So one of the things that you can offer to players in a situation like Vancouver is just opportunity. Sure. And it should be a good selling point. The Canucks should be sitting there going, okay, we

can't offer no state income tax, we can't offer no state income tax. We can't offer great weather. We can't offer a practice facility. So instead of complaining about that, what can you offer to a player? And right now, if you look at the forward group, you can offer the opportunity to come in and

not be blocked out by literally anyone. You know, you're not coming, you're not coming here and be like, well, you know, you got McDavid and Dry Sidal and you got Nuge up there and, you know, Hyman like where, where am I going to play? In Vancouver, you're like anywhere. Just be good at it. It happens every off season. A guy, a bigger name guy will sign somewhere random and people go,

why is Tefoli going to San Jose? Cause he can play on the first line and log 25 minutes a night and rack up the points and then sign another contract where he makes millions more dollars. Yeah. I mean Tefoli might be a bit of a different thing because I think he wanted stability somewhere. But like in that vein. I know what you're saying.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, they should be, they should be looking for, and I'm sure they are, any way that they can have an advantage. There's always another side to the coin. In Florida, yeah, they got great advantages, but the opportunity there is, is, is not one where you're like, okay, well, I'd really like to be

the first line center one day. It's like, wow, there's this guy Barkov and I don't think you're going to beat him out. So by the way, in case you missed it, Brock Nelson re-ups with the Colorado Avalanche, three years, 7.5 million AAV. That is another pending unrestricted free agent off the board.

He came in at number 12 on Daily Face Off's top 50 free agent board. So already it is June 4th and two of Frank's top 25 free agents are gone. Brock Nelson and Yanni Gord, both 33 years old. Nelson gets three years of term. Gord gets six and neither will be available to the rest of the National Hockey League as we are now four days into June. We're three and a half weeks away from July 1.

Okay, have we printed out the submissions? I can't remember. No, we're gonna do that right now. Okay, let's do it. A-Dog Interrupted, but this time with something useful. What We Learn's Hum, humanoid edition brought to you as always by AJ's pizza on East Broadway. Our favorite AJ's sauce pie, an upside down

version of the bar pie with fresh mozzarella and basil only at AJ's pizza. Order online at ajs.pizza. Uh, Amro the actor, what I learned, I learned that the greatness of Connor McDavid is no longer under the radar, thanks to the Four Nations and two cup final appearances, the entire hockey world will be watching today.

So people will say, I don't think McDavid was under the radar. Conor who? Yeah, he wasn't, but what I'm wondering is how much of the casual American sports fan is going to tune into this series because of the storylines. And I think the hockey is going to be awesome.

I think the atmosphere, especially in Edmonton, is going to be awesome. Yep. And I think there's, I'm really curious to see what the ratings are going to be for this. I know they're going to be great in Canada. Yes. I'm not so sure about the States though,

because you've got Florida. I mean, it's not certainly, let's say it's not an original six and then you've got Edmonton. But the actual hockey and the storylines and the players involved in this series, you couldn't ask for more. So I think we're going to get, we're going to get a real test of is the casual American sports fan interested in the game of hockey and not just we're going to get a real test of is the casual American sports fan

interested in the game of hockey and not just the big market teams? The numbers have been steadily declining as the playoffs have gone along. And that often happens, especially in the U.S. Some of it is market dependent. Some of it is, let's be honest, the first round of the NHL playoffs is often better than the second round of the conference finals. It's a very unique trend that way, but would you argue? Like oftentimes the first round is way more exciting

than the second round and the conference finals, and then it kind of has an uptick again in the Stanley Cup final. Yeah, I still think this series is gonna get some interest in itself. No, no, no, I'm just saying the trends so far leading up to the Stanley Cup Finals as kind of mirrored previous years where the first round gets a lot of attention. Again, sometimes it's market dependent.

If you don't have the first round was down in the States because there's no original six teams that made the playoffs. Right. But it's the American. It still did decent numbers. There was a handful of matchups that were intriguing. I think that once this series goes along, I do think this series is going to deliver like last year's did in droves. Like it was an amazing series.

You couldn't ask for better theater. I think that this one is going to as well. It'll be very curious to see, because there is going to have to be a sell job by like, especially ESPN and TNT, the holders, that they're going to have to be a sell job by like, especially ESPN and TNT, the holders, that they're going to have to spin the narrative if it plays out with either the dynasty talk from the Panthers or the McDavid coronation talk.

But here's the thing, the series has to be competitive. That's going to be the deciding factor here. I don't think one of the games last year went to overtime, by the way, all seven in the Stanley Cup final last year. The series has to be competitive. That's gonna be the deciding factor here. I don't think one of the games last year went to overtime, by the way, all seven in the Stanley Cup final last year. I don't think a single one went to overtime. And the series got a lot more interesting as it went along, obviously.

That's right, yeah. Calling into awesome what we learned, we might have someone interesting to look forward to, again, in golf. Charlie Woods won his first junior title. Do you care about this as a golf guy? Not quite yet. Okay.

But I think the Charlie Woods story has the potential to be fascinating. I just don't know, I don't know how good he is. And I think people are trying to get a handle on that. How old is he? 16? Something like that. There's a lot of good junior golfers out there. Yeah.

You know, um, but not all of them have Tiger Woods as their dad. And not only the talent and the advice that he's going to be able to get from a guy like Tiger Woods, but also just the opportunity. He's going to be able to enter tournaments that other junior golfers or other young golfers won't get the opportunity. Like he gets to be able to enter tournaments that other junior golfers or other young golfers won't get the opportunity.

Like he gets to play in that father son tournament with Tiger. He's on TV. So not only does that give you an opportunity to go play in those tournaments, it's also a great way to learn about how to play under pressure. And that's the big thing in golf. One of the big things is how are you going to play in golf? How are you going to play under pressure. And that's the big thing in golf. One of the big things is how are you going to

play in golf? How are you going to play under pressure? There's so many junior golfers out there with unbelievable swings and talent and they've been taught how to swing the club from a very early age, they practice, but the test is when you get out there, you got to make a pot or you got to get up and down

or you got to hit a fairway. Can you do it when everyone's watching? The difference between playing high school tournaments or junior tournaments versus out there and you've got an actual gallery, they're immense. So the Charlie Woods thing is interesting, but just to push back on something

interesting to look forward to again in golf, I find Scottie Scheffler interesting. I really do. Um, and I almost find him interesting because he's so humble and cause he's so ordinary. Is he playing? He's no, he's not playing in the Canadian open, which was unfortunate. That's a bummer. Um, but like he's the complete, well, not the

complete opposite from Tiger Woods, cause Tiger wanted his privacy, but his public profile was so huge compared to Scottie Scheffler. But Scottie Scheffler is playing at a Tiger level right now. It's incredible what he's doing. He had more wins than Colorado Rockies last month. And I find that interesting.

Uh, who won the Canadian open last year? Wasn't that Scottish guy that his dad caddying for him? He. Robert McIntyre. Yeah, the lefty. Yeah, that was the guy, right? Yeah.

And then it was Nick Taylor before that, which was an amazing story. Yeah. And then Rory before that. See, uh, Rory got a Maple Leafs jersey from Keith Pelly today. Rory is always giving updates on the Leafs whenever he comes to the Canadian Open. So his latest line is, if I can win the Masters, then the Leafs can win the Stanley Cup.

Ah, Rory, you little scamp. Rory is a big sports fan. He knows what's going on. I don't know how much he knows about hockey, if he's being fed these lines. Sure. But he gets sports. Right. You know, he gets that if you go into a place like Toronto and you're there to help promote

the Canadian Open, and by the way, one of the interesting things about Rory is he's actually doing media. He didn't talk to the media at all during the PGA and he got some criticism for that. So he comes up to Canada and they're very friendly up here. He didn't talk to Bryson during the Masters,

and he didn't talk to the media during the PGA. I got another golf text here, this one's from Jovan, hashtag WWO what we learned. My coworker Wayne pumps his golf game up way too much, so we went to play yesterday, and he shot a 110. He stinks, I just wanna embarrass him because I know he's listening. You can weaponize your listenership

on the Haliford and Bruff show. We allow it, we allow it. This is why I don't golf. I've never pumped my game up though. Sorry Wayne, one 10's pretty ugly though. Read from, that's a very honest score. I hope it was honest. Read from Victoria what we learned.

Worst nightmare ever. Okay, I have time for that. McDavid wins the cup in Edmonton this year, then gets traded or free agent signing to the Leafs and wins the cup in Toronto. I did see a certain podcast discuss this possibility that once McDavid has fulfilled his duty as an Edmonton Euler and has won a Stanley Cup, he'll feel the freedom to go somewhere else in Canada, maybe back to his home province and do the job there. It's like Red going to his final parole hearing in Shawshank.

That's right, pretty much the same thing. Okay, the music means we gotta say goodbye and we gotta get out of here. We will be back tomorrow. Adam Stanley's gonna join us tomorrow for a Canadian open preview, speaking of the golf. For now though, we gotta say goodbye. Thank you all for listening.

Thank you all for contributing. Signing off, I have been Mike Halford. He's been Jason Brough. He's been Adog and he's been Laddie. This has been the Halford and Brough Show on Sportsnet 650.